Photo: B. Chandler
Photo: Geordie at War Project
In Benwell ( St. James) Churchyard is a headstone which reads:
Thomas Albert
Thirlwell
Captain Royal Engineers
Who died in France.
1st October 1917 aged 33
in the Service of his Country
Henry Peter Thirlwell
who died 17th March 1934in his 81st year
Mary Ann Thirlwell
wife of the above
died 31st July 1942 aged 85 years
The Geordie at War Project states:
Extract from Tunnellers by W.G. Grieve
“ . . . .the Germans discharged a large quantity of chloropicrine, a highly lachrymatory gas down Fosse 8. At this time there was 7 men of 170 Tunnelling Company, 4 French soldiers and a signaller in the mine. About 10 am on 26 September 170 Tunnelling Company were warned of the discharge of gas. Lieutenant Wood and 11 men, equipped with rescue apparatus attempted a rescue but had to retire as the gas had penetrated their masks. Lieutenant Robertson and 9 men made several more attempts to reach the men. Captain Thirlwell and his men relieved Lieutenant Wood’s group but they were also forced to retire due to the gas penetrating their masks. The whole of Captain Thirlwell’s party were badly gassed and he and another man (86169 Sapper J. Shanks) died from its effects. Capt. Thirlwell was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his gallantry in this rescue."
Part of a letter sent to Capt. Thirlwell’s mother at Royal Engineers Museum.
“A more gallant death no one could have died. Your son was gassed in a desperate effort, in conjunction with six other soldiers, to save the lives, or rather to effect the rescue, of seven of his men, who had been entombed in the mine owing to the discharge of enemy gas. He and six other soldiers, one of whom has since died, and the others had been seriously gassed, volunteered to try and penetrate through the gas to the point where their seven comrades were stationed. After proceeding about two-thirds of the distance (some two-and-a-half miles) they were obliged, owing to the strength and concentration of the gas, to return. The rescue apparatus they were wearing was not proof against such a high concentration, and it let in the gas, only a little, but enough to cause the most serious injuries, which have ended, I regret most sincerely to say, fatally”.
Thomas Albert Thirlwell is remembered at Benwell on B86.02
